Evaluation- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

While producing my final product I attempted to make it seem as though it was a real world product as much as possible. I attempted to do this through using a consistent layout throughout the entire product as well as a consistent colour scheme. The main inspiration for my product was ‘Q’ magazine, the major parts that I took form this magazine is its overall colour scheme and in some aspects its general layout, although ‘Q’ changes its layout almost every edition. Q tends to stick to a general layout in the sense that it has a main focus image and often smaller secondary images. All of the Q magazine front covers that I have researched all contain a large amount of writing detailing and selling what’s inside with the use of sell lines. The sell lines featured are rarely over the top and fit in well with Q magazines demographic, I have attempted to conform to this convention as I intend to aim my magazine at a similar audience to Q’s. Another convention that I have attempted to conform to is the use of the central image almost coming out of the page as Q often features the artist featured in that edition in front of the masthead; giving off the impression that the artist is climbing off of the front cover thus selling the magazine to the reader. I have decided to not obstruct a large amount of my masthead as the magazine is still new and not fully established; I feel it is important to establish a brand before obstructing any significant portion of the masthead. The title of my magazine is Soundproof, the main reason for choosing this title is that it is memorable and different compared with many other different magazines such as Q, Kerrang and NME. The fact that it is different and stands out shows the attempted ethos of the magazine.

One form of a convention that my front cover challenges is that of the use of graphics, Q magazine often uses graphics in which to house their sell lines, I felt as though my magazine did not need such an array of different graphics and would suffice with only a few. The secondary images on my front cover have been implemented to fulfil a need to purchase the magazine as it gives off the impression that there is more to this magazine than perhaps many others such as Q itself, who only occasionally uses secondary images to draw the reader in, this fulfils the need of customers cognitive need to acquire knowledge. The sell lines found on my magazine front cover are deliberately worded with words such as 'exclusive' which has been taken from another one of my research magazines (Kerrang). Words such as exclusive help to lure potential customers into wanting to know more about the magazines information; as it suggests that the magazine will be the primary source of information which according to the needs model suggests that it fulfils cognitive needs for the reader. Another suggestion of a wide range of information comes in the form of the amount of band names placed around the central image creating an idea that the central image is the most important part of the magazine, while this also conveys the scale of the magazines contents which will entice a reader into making a purchase; in pursuit of knowledge. The use of colour on my magazine is mainly; red, black and white these are predominantly colours that represent males, meaning that my target audience is more male orientated. The vast amount of my sell lines are similar to the ones found on my research magazines, although in a few cases blur both Kerrang and Q magazine.

Throughout my contents page I have used a similar colour scheme as is featured on the front cover of my final product. I have chosen a rather simplistic layout as is often the case with Q magazine, I have chosen two different pictures of different artists and half of the page is dedicated to what else is featured in the magazine, I feel this style reflects Q magazine rather well but does not sell the magazine as is often the case with other magazine productions, although mentioning band names and the use of a few sell lines can sell the magazine to customers as it fulfils cognitive needs. The simple layout of my magazine contents page gives off the feeling of class as it is uncluttered and not bulging full of content that will take a long time to read as some other magazines often have.

I have decided to use just two images on my contents page, this makes the text to picture ration at about half and half this means that my target audience is more mature teenagers or teenagers who are genuinely interested in music, based on my audience research pictures will draw teenagers in more than text, with the use of about half and half I feel this is almost the best of both worlds. As well as page numbers featured on the images in my contents page I have included a short caption detailing what is going to be found in this specific page, this informs the reader of what they are going to be reading about as well as fulfilling Cognitive needs. The font style that I have chosen for the contents page both reflects Q magazine and the front cover with the choices of font style, colour and layout. The layout of each of the font is similar in most aspects adding to continuity, although the page numbers are much larger than the details about what is found on each page. The heading of my contents page reflects the masthead with the use of the 'C' which is a different size and colour as is what is found on the masthead of the magazine, this is to add continuity to the magazine and also to reinstate the house style that I am attempting to keep as consistent as possible.

The layout of the double page spread changes some conventions that I researched by having the main picture in the top right corner of the pages, I decided to design the double page spread in a way which is slightly different to many other music magazines, this allows for my double page spreads to be just different enough to add a unique style to the article. The text that goes within my layout is situated in three columns per page; this is similar to how Q magazine lays out their own double page spread, it reads similarly to a newspaper meaning that more information can be presented to the reader in an orderly fashion. 

The main image in my article features the artist who is being featured in the interview alone discussing their personal experiences with the bands that they have been with as well as their own personal lives, direct mode of address has been used in order to establish a connection with the reader such as has been used on the front cover. The main reason for featuring a single person and not an entire the artist and form a 'relationship' with said artist by getting to know the 'man behind the music'. The smaller image found on the double page spread shows another image of the artist who is holding a guitar just out of shot, this doesn't really add to the article in any significant way although excites the fans of this artist and may interest people who are just discovering this artist for the first time.

The font follows the same colour scheme as the rest of the production does this adds to the productions house style as a whole as it is consistent. The red text represents questions that have been asked to the artist allowing for readers to easily pick out what questions they would like to read if they chose to read the article in this way. As there is no particular story to follow throughout the questions and answers this may be appealing to some readers instead of reading the entire product. The quote that I have chosen to include at the top of the first page simply represents the theme of the interview; that it is rather informal yet interesting at the same time. The language throughout the article allows the reader to become informed on the featured artist without it being an incredibly formal interview; some of the questions use colloquial words and phrases that reinforce this idea. At the top of the first page I have called the interview 'The interview' with the 'T' featured being coloured black this as was the case with the contents page establishes a house style throughout all of the production.